The BuildBot is a system to automate the compile/test cycle required by most
software projects to validate code changes. By automatically rebuilding and
testing the tree each time something has changed, build problems are
pinpointed quickly, before other developers are inconvenienced by the
failure. The guilty developer can be identified and harassed without human
intervention. By running the builds on a variety of platforms, developers who
do not have the facilities to test their changes everywhere before checkin will
at least know shortly afterwards whether they have broken the build or not.

Warning counts, lint checks, image size, compile time, and other build
parameters can be tracked over time, are more visible, and are therefore
easier to improve.

The overall goal is to reduce tree breakage and provide a platform to run tests
or code-quality checks that are too annoying or pedantic for any human to waste
their time with. Developers get immediate (and potentially public) feedback
about their changes, encouraging them to be more careful about testing before
checkin.

WWW: http://buildbot.sourceforge.net